Have Members Collaborated On Self-Publishing a Short Story Collection Before?

I'm pretty new to the site and, in fact, it's the first writing-orientated site I've ever joined. Having read through quite a few stories from site members I've noticed a lot of genuine writing talent here. Some of the stories are exceptionally good.

I posted a story of my own in the latest bi-weekly competition which I thought was fairly decent at the time of writing but, having read the stories from the other members, my story pales in comparison although I console myself with the excuse that it's the first story I've written for many, many years.

Anyway, I've been thinking that it seems a somewhat wasted opportunity to not self-publish a collection of short stories from members here. Perhaps even on a regular, ongoing basis. Has it ever been done before, have members got together to do some sort of collaborative effort of publishing on Amazon and, if so, how successful was it? And if it's never been done before, would it be an idea you'd be interested in?

I had the same thought recently. I'm guessing there would be all sorts of issues with it and the owner doesn't want to deal with a legal headache, but if the writers of the stories got together and organised it off site, I wonder if that would absolve WF of any responsibility?

My reservation with it was the editing. There's no real way to say this without sounding like an utter snob but I wouldn't want to be featured in an anthology with poorly edited stories. You'd either have to have one overall editor, where all the writers give him/her the final say on editing, or you'd have to have each writer OK each of the other writer's stories. I can envisage all sorts of arguments and butthurt with either scenario.

I do think it's a great idea. I just don't know how workable it is when you'd have 5/10/15 writers and their writer egos involved.

In the unlikely event that the anthology actually sold in any numbers, there would be royalties to pay out. Who would do that? Who would edit? Who would produce the cover art?

I think it could be done, but you would have an awful lot of cooks trying to stir the broth, I am sure.

Personally, I think you are better off sending your stories to compete for a place on an anthology being produced by a small publisher. My own company produces one a year, and most others do at least that. Whatever genre you are writing in, there will be something available, more or less on a continuous basis. You just need to find them. Facebook is good for that as there are several groups for new publication calls.

If you are mad keen to get something 'out there,' you could self publish a short story. Or perhaps a couple of them, if they are linked thematically. Put them on Smashwords for free, or for a nominal sum.